


To Know the Words is Mortal

by ecotone



Series: Scatter the Ash [1]
Category: Destiny (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, aka the fireteam of sadness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-26
Updated: 2016-01-26
Packaged: 2018-05-16 08:47:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5822110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ecotone/pseuds/ecotone
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eriana-3 of the Praxic Warlocks, marked by the Cormorant Seal, knows this: she will die here.</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Know the Words is Mortal

She was burning.

This she knew: she was going to die. Eriana-3 of the Praxic Warlocks, marked by the Cormorant Seal, was going to perish miles underground, surrounded by something much, much worse than the Darkness. Crota lived. Wei Ning did not. Sai Mota did not.

She would not.

Her Light was all but gone now, condensed into one last Radiance, turning Hive to ash and dust around her. She wondered if her sacrifice would be in vain. Of course it would be, she thought.

It would not be enough. The might of a thousand Suns would not have been enough.

What could they have done different? What if they had gotten the Wizard they’d captured to talk? What if-

The same image, Wei dead on Crota’s blade. The slaughter on the Moon. The slaughter underneath it.

This she knew: Sai, dead in an attempt to defeat Omnigul. Vell, overwhelmed by Verok and her thrall. Omar, Eris, and Toland somewhere in the Dark, likely dead or worse.

Eriana’s light flickered.

Exos were war machines. She was created for a War and was reborn into War. War machines should not be afraid.

_Fear (n): an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat._ This she knew.

She was afraid.

Warlocks pursued knowledge. It was their nature: to seek out what was unknown. Maybe she would have ended up here even if Wei had lived.

She understood the lure of the Ahamkara, now. Forbidden knowledge was the fruit, and Eriana was choking on it.

A bolt from a Shredder tore into her, and she screamed. It was not like the screechy laughter of Sai before her light was extinguished. This was different. She’d felt pain before, had known it like no other when they had tried to retake the Moon, but now, so far away from the Light? It burned— no. It was the opposite of burning, a stabbing, freezing cold. She felt like she was being corroded.

_Light (n): understanding of a problem or mystery; enlightenment._ This she was born knowing.

She was going to die with more questions than answers. Perhaps this was normal. The thanatonauts died to find answers. If every death was as painful as this, would they still willingly fall onto their blades?

Things she did not know: Where was the rest of her fireteam? Were they successful? When would Crota fall? Could Crota fall? What was the difference between the forbidden knowledge of the Ahamkara and the knowledge of the Hive? What if there was no difference? Was this a trap? Did Toland— was Toland—

A shredder shot, two, three. She threw a grenade, and the acolytes burned. She burned.

A Knight cleaved her Ghost in two. It repeated the motion, and Eriana fell.

_Death (n): the action or fact of dying or being killed; the end of the life of a person or organism._

\--------

The shielding over her pupils lifted. Eriana saw the sky.

She sat up, dizzy. There was no Ghost at her side. It had died, torn apart by a Knight. It’d done the same to her, she remembered. She winced.

She was on a cliff, looking down into a forest. There was snow on the ground. According to her processors, it was likely she was in Old Russia. Wherever it was, it certainly wasn’t the Moon.

There were four figures in the distance. They were all sitting, facing each other. One was gesturing with a knife as the others listened. Unsteadily, she rose to her feet. She felt lighter than she had in the pit. She had died in the Dark, but here, with the Sun shining down on her, she felt like she’d just been resurrected for the first time.

As she walked over to the small group, the gesturing increased. She could hear bits of conversation now, and she fought the urge to gasp.

“I’m just saying, I don’t know-“ Wei Ning turned her head, and grinned as she saw Eriana looking down at her. “Hey, look who’s awake!"

This Eriana-3 of the Praxic Warlocks, marked by the Comorant Seal, knew: she was dead. Wei Ning was dead. Sai, who was looking up at her and still holding a shard of bone, was dead. Vell, who looked a bit concerned, was dead. Omar, who’d stopped pointing with his knife, was presumed dead.

She wanted to scream. Instead, she sat down.

Sai laughed her quiet laugh, the one she used when she was trying to calm an angry Vell down. “It’s a lot to take in, I know.” Omar nodded in agreement.

Vell grinned. “Personally, I thought the afterlife had an Only Titans Allowed policy until Sai and Omar showed up."

Wei punched him.

Wei. The first one of them to perish, dead on Crota’s sword at the battle on the Moon. The one that had fueled Eriana’s hunt for vengeance. The one that had meant the most to her, before the hunt for Crota began.

War machine, she reminded herself. She looked at all of them.

“I’m assuming that we’re all dead, then,” she said. As the group nodded, she continued. “Then where are we?"

“That’s the real question,” Omar said, idly twisting his life in the dirt. “We don’t have our Ghosts, they all lost their Light in the pit.” He looked at Wei and added, “or they were destroyed."

“Yeah, yeah,” Wei said, swatting at him. Eriana smiled. “But we think that we still, as Guardians, had enough Light to come to wherever this place is. We think it’s where we went when we temporarily died, and where we stayed before Ghost resurrection.”

“Is this where the thanatonauts have their visions, then?” Eriana asked. Omar shrugged.

“You’re the Warlock, you should be telling us.”

Eriana added the information to her list of things she didn’t know, then frowned and made a new list. Exos were machines, after all. Someone had to track the data.

“And Eris? Toland?"

“Toland is somewhere in between here and Death, between Light and Dark. We called to him, and someone answered. I think Osiris heard us, too.” Sai shrugged. “Other than that, we don’t know. Eris is alive, somewhere in the Hive’s tunnels."

Eriana nodded. “How long has it been since..."

“Your mission? Hard to tell. Time moves differently here, I think. Still, it hasn’t been long.” Wei looked around. “There are other Guardians here, of course. All who were not taken by the Dark end up here, as far as I can tell."

The exo looked at Wei, then at her teammates. Vell had long scratches up his arms, though they seemed to be healing. Omar looked worn down, thin, but he turned to face the sunlight.

Omar. “What happened to you?” Eriana asked him. He was the only one she hadn’t known was dead.

“Tortured,” he said. “Stripped of my Light. Wouldn’t recommend.” He looked at her, and back at the sun. “Light’s helping, though. Glad I didn’t end up wherever Yor got sent."

Eriana agreed, looking around at what was left of her fireteam. Perhaps that was wrong. Eris was what was left of their fireteam. They- Eriana, Sai, Omar, Vell, Toland- were what was lost.

But maybe they’d been found again.

Eriana’s list of unknowns was getting to be much longer than her list of truths. But, as she looked up at the sun, and as her hand found Wei’s, she found that she didn’t mind.

_Eternity (n): Endless life after death; a state to which time has no application; timelessness._

**Author's Note:**

> First fic on ao3 and it's Destiny. I don't know what I expected.  
> Title is from the Ir Yut grimoire card! Any comments/questions are very welcome.


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